Berks Area Regional Transportation Authority

Berks Area Regional Transportation Authority (BARTA), previously Berks Area Reading Transportation Authority, is a public transportation system which operates in Berks County, Pennsylvania, mainly in the city of Reading. The fleet consists of 57 buses.

BARTA Transportation Center

The BARTA Transportation Center is the center location in downtown Reading where all routes except route 6 operates. An automated voice announcement system is used to announce bus departures and what stop the bus is departing from.^[2]

BARTA's fleet

BARTA's fleet consists of 57 buses with a fleet age as old as 2003. 9110, a 35-foot Gillig Phantom from 1991, is currently being used for the SWAT team in Berks County. It was the last surviving Gillig Phantom bus in BARTA's fleet. BARTA was mostly a fleet of buses powered by Detroit Diesel engines until the production of the Detroit Diesel Series 50 was cut in late 2004. Then BARTA ordered their 05, 07 and 08 Gillig BRTs with Cummins ISL. The first 2 digits of the bus numbers indicate the year the bus was ordered. Even in the 2000s. The fleet consists of both 35 foot buses and 40 foot buses. All of BARTA's fleet is equipped with Allison Transmissions and Bendix air brakes. BARTA ordered 5 diesel hybrid-electric BRTs on Friday, May 15, 2009, and 2 diesel BRTs came for 2009 as well. BARTA got four more hybrids for 2010.

The current fleet

• 2003: 5 35-foot Optima Opus's powered by Cummins ISB (0301-0305). 0304 was lost due to a fire in January 2008. 3 New Flyer D40LFs powered by Detroit Diesel Series 50 (0321-0323)
• 2004: 5 35-foot Optima Opus's powered by Cummins ISB (0406-0410) and 2 40-foot Gillig Low Floors powered by Detroit Diesel Series 50 (0431-0432)
• 2005: 17 35-foot Gillig BRTs powered by Cummins ISL (0533-0549)
• 2007: 7 35-foot Gillig BRTs powered by Cummins ISL (0750-0756)
• 2008: 6 35-foot Gillig BRTs (0857-0862) and 2 40-foot Gillig BRTs (0881-0882) Powered by Cummins ISL
• 2009: 2 40-foot Gillig BRTs powered by Cummins ISL (0983-0984) and 5 40-foot Gillig BRT hybrids powered by Cummins ISB (0991-0995)
• 2010: 4 40-foot Gillig BRT hybrids powered by Cummins ISB (1096-1099)

Current Routes

• 1- Temple via Fifth Street
• 2- Fairgrounds Square Market
• 3- Temple via Kutztown Road
• 4- 10th-11th Streets
• 5- Albright College via 12th-13th Streets
• 6- Spring Street/Berkshire Heights
• 7- Pennside
• 8- Reiffton/Birdsboro
• 9- Grill via Kenhorst
• 10- Brookline
• 11- Mohnton via Shillington
• 12- Lincoln Park via Reading Hospital
• 14- Wernersville via Sinking Spring
• 15- Berkshire Mall
• 16- Broadcasting Square
• 17- Glenside/Airport/Berks Heim
• 18- Schuylkill Avenue
• 19- Riverside/FirstEnergy Stadium/Cotton Street
• 20- Route 61/Hamburg
• 21- Morgantown Express
• 22- Lyon Station/East Penn-Deka

Park and Ride Locations

• FirstEnergy Stadium (Route 19)
• Hamburg (Route 20)
• Leesport (Route 20)
• Shelbourne Square (Exeter Township (Route 8)
• Womelsdorf (Route 14)

References

External links

• BARTAs official website
• BARTA photo gallery